Cheap oil typically boosts economic growth in India, and helps put it on a course to fiscal and current account balance. For most of its two terms, the Modi government has used depressed oil prices to pull back on the fiscal deficit while forex reserves kept piling up. The drawdown in 2022 has also been reversed. The fiscal space created by an extended period of low crude oil prices has allowed GoI to bump up welfare spending and capex. These are the principal economic achievements on which it will be seeking a third term.